On the river promenade a shirtless jogger walks by…
- Emma: Is he a nudie?
Ok, so the novelty has only worn off insofar as this is The New Normal. Checking in, dragging stuff up (with a generally underslept little C in tow), getting settled, trying to set up all the “devices” and get everything charging overnight, bedtime snack, get the little ones to sleep (usually with an extraordinary amount of cuddles, but that’s OK!), try and get ourselves to sleep… then wake up as J leaves for meeting, try and get the girls ready and M ready, usually it’s late by the time we get to breakfast and all three of us are c-r-a-n-k-y but are ok after the food. If we were lucky to get a later check-out, no problem. Earlier checkout with no J means a bit of trouble with all the stuff. But we’re getting used to it now.
We stayed in a 100 year old building last night in Saskatoon and it was the kind of hotel I love. Lots of character, marble staircase, big comfy room, not pretentious. Oh, and we got the last room. Thanks be to God! Apparently it was a busy town last night. The hotel was right downtown and offered 1pm checkout, and had laundry right next door! It was perfect J
The girls slept alright and woke just as J was leaving for his meeting. The meetings have been a huge success so far and today was by far the best. J and V (his partner in crime here in Saskatchewan) had to cut an impromptu second meeting short.
Meanwhile, the girls had “breakfast” (at 11am) at a coffee and sandwich shop around the corner after putting in a load of laundry (can anyone say smelly socks? Or smell them? Not anymore! You would not believe that two little girls can get such sweaty feet…). Then we popped the laundry in to the dryer and headed off to the river for a quick walk before checkout. It was a beautiful day and the river walk and park were packed with people. We had a little runaround before heading back to checkout and meet The Dad. He was on a high from his great meetings and so we packed up with lots of smiles and very little grump. C fell asleep before we even pulled away from the curb!
We had walked by a cool little refreshment stand by the river (see the picture on Shutterfly) and drove back to pick up a couple of ice creams. The frozen yogurt (Saskatoon berry and mango) was exceptionally delicious and quenching in this sweaty 18*C heat. (Hey, we just got out of the cold of Alberta!) J stopped at Wendy’s for a burger and then we headed down South to Regina.
The girls slept THE ENTIRE WAY.
Yes, it was a rather peaceful drive. We listened to a podcast which prompted a lengthy discussion about stuff we don’t normally get to talk about. Thanks again to God for that time.
Regina is a pretty town and we got there right at dinnertime so we picked up some groceries at Safeway and headed to the river (yes, another river) for a picnic dinner and runaround. The kids, especially, E, were pretty ravenous since they didn’t have lunch. Well, E had a popsicle.We also took a few pictures at the Legislative building which is one of the prettier ones I’ve seen. Then we headed to our hotel where we, once again, had gotten the last room, which just happened to be a non-smoking double. Thank you, God! You are taking care of us!
The girls watched a little TV, J did a little work, M re-organized (again) all the suitcases. After 5 days, we’re in the groove of things and figuring out what works and doesn’t work. Hopefully, this new system works better.
Better than all of our devices… when we crossed the border into Saskatchewan, J’s phone stopped transmitting. It won’t even roam. Oh, and the charger exploded in my hand in the car (not with sparks, just pieces). And the charger for it to plug into the laptop is finicky and has to be just so to work. So we have no way to communicate (except through V’s phone currently) when we’re not together. Quite annoying. J also couldn’t send any emails on the laptop and we had to contact The Tech Guy to get it working (it’s working now). The iPod didn’t sync all of the playlists we set up before leaving so we are a little short on tunes (luckily that can be fixed on the go). The GPS has old maps which has caused us a few U-turns (remember Nose Hill Drive?) and the suction doesn’t suck properly to it falls of the windshield once in awhile, which is probably why the speaker doesn’t work properly and the stern English woman’s directions come out all crackly. We bought an inverter which didn’t work and had to return it for another on which works (so far!). The portable DVD player kicked the bucket and is no longer usable. And M’s phone hasn’t had a working music player in ages. Am I missing anything? As we drive the glove box is full of cables and devices and charging and FM transmitting and beeping and flashing.
Maybe we should buy a map book and a calling card…
- Melodies: EarReverent with Bob Lapine (The Origins of Life)
- Miles: 330 (530 km)
- Meals: cinnamon toast & salmon bagel, frozen yogurt, roast chicken sandwiches on the riverbank (no lunch! Poor sleeping kids.)
- Meltdowns: J-1/M-2/C-4/E-2 – tired and hungry. Bad combination.
funktion rambunktion 